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| A newsletter for Mums, wherever you are! | Mid November 2011
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 Dear all,
Many thanks for your support for and enthusiastic response to my first Alive to Change Open House which took place earlier this month. I very much enjoyed welcoming you into my home and work environment, and sharing my work with you. For those of you who wanted to, but couldn't make it, please don't hesitate to contact you any time you'd like more information about coaching - at my house it it always Open House! I'm pretty good at exploring and explaining things over the telephone too This week, I've sadly been reminded of the fragility of life, as I had news of a friend's death. Valerie had been a friend before she became Tina and Jenny's teacher for two years, and had always been full of life, smiles and laughter. When we first moved out here, she'd been warm and welcoming from the start, and she very much helped Jenny when she'd had some problems at school. When I saw her four weeks ago, between chemotherapy treatments, she was lively, full of jokes, interested in what was going on in our lives, ready for lots more to happen in her life. In all my life, I've never met anyone who smiled and laughed so much. At only 35, she leaves behind a lovely husband and three young children. At her funeral this afternoon, the church will be packed with people whose lives she touched. There are many people who make a difference to our lives, who make them a little brighter, a little more bearable during difficult times, who help you see things in a new way, who enable you to do your best. Or who are just there at the right time with the right sized hug. We are those people too, all of us. We just need to be ready to reach out a little further and give out our best smiles, welcomes, and, when needed, our very best hugs. In this issue of Roots and Wings, I draw a comparison between exercising and coaching - it's just a different kind of muscle. And I'll be sending one more out before Christmas, with some helpful hints and tips for the Christmas season! with my very best wishes to you and your families, keep well, Kirstin www.alivetochange.com |
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Just Say No
Workshop Lite
Never mind Sorry being the hardest word, I think No is!! And especially this time of year . . . Check out the full article on my website, and you like the sound of exploring
this topic more in a
small, supportive workshop lite group,
please get in touch on kirstin@alivetochange.com.
Workshop Lite
Date: Tues 29th Nov Time:9-11am Location:7 rue du Landskron, Leymen More Information:by email to Kirstin or call 0033 770 820 875 after 21st Nov
Please note that the Invincible Mums Free Taster session will change date to early January. I've had a few people interested but who can't get on that date, so would prefer to find a different date.
The programme itself will start in mid-late January, subject to finding times that work for the small group.
If you're interested in feeling more
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 H Flexing a different kind of muscle
I've always exercised to some extent and am always active to some degree. However, in a "formal" sense, it is fair to say this has been pretty random and sporadic. I have been a member of a gym, I've attended plenty of aerobics classes, pilates classes, post-natal shape up classes. I've giggled my way through aqua aerobics. I've done circuit training. I have a fantastic selection of yoga-pila-boxer-aerobasize videos and dvds (OK so I've chucked the videos out now, but still hold out hope for the DVDs). I've even attempted spinning - but I won't do that again! And more recently, I've used the Wii (fit, active, dance, etc etc) as a fun way. Yep, I've done some serious flirting with formal exercise in my time.
But it is only recently that I've suddenly started to take exercise seriously. Yes, after 43 years, I now realise that there is a long term relationship there that I can nurture and build upon. So now, I've got myself three regular classes, with professional instructors, with other people joining in, and a bit of a variety of approach. No more do it myself.
Each class is different, and I feel committed to each in a different way - whether because of the people I'm with, the way I experience the class and the after effects, the skills of the teachers.
So while I am there working my abs and glutes, I'm thinking - isn't this just like coaching?
WHAT? How is sweating away in a class, tightening your pelvic floor, squeezing your abs and trying to remember to breathe like coaching?
Let me explain.
We all know how to move. Don't we? Well, when we get a professional in, they help us to move in a certain way, to achieve a specific effect. They show us how, and encourage us to do it, providing feedback to help us learn, until it becomes second nature. We may need to change habits, and do things which feel, at first, unnatural. Our professional instructors help us to change our body as it looks on the outside - and of course this often impacts too on how we feel on the inside.
Could I do that myself? Possibly. I could read books, look on the internet, watch a DVD. But who am I accountable to while I'm going through the learning curve? Who's watching me to make sure I am continually taking the steps that will make a difference to me, and getting into better habits? Would I do it myself? Well, I've seen over the past 20 years that I've dipped in and out of so many things, that the answer is - probably not.
So now look at our lives. Well clearly we all know how to live. We're doing it all the time. However, we all get into ways of living which don't serve us - unhelpful habits, ways of looking at things, things we tell our selves which stop us from moving forward in the direction we would choose. We probably also know that there are ways of changing habits, perspective, self talk. We may even have tried some.
What a coach does is like an exercise instructor. A coach helps you flex, stretch and build up your confidence muscles. A coach gives you feedback to help you see things differently. A coach helps you through exercises that tone up your decision making abilities, your communication skills, your appreciation for who you are. Whether working individually or as a group, there is a sense of process, of accountability, or support. And, a coach can make it fun too, and help you leave sessions and workshops with renewed energy, a new level of focus, a real spring in your step.
Don't believe me? Come along to an exploratory session and find out! Just email me on kirstin@alivetochange.com.
Please help a friend by passing this on if they could benefit too.
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Important to note!
Of course, I'm not recommending you replace exercise with coaching - we've all got different muscles we need to work on, mental and physical.
In the Basel area, if you want to work on your physical muscles, I can thoroughly recommend Jenny for her BodyPump class, Tracy for Pilates, and Olivier (a Swiss man with seriously gyrating hips) for his Zumba. Get in touch if you need more info.
(It is worth pointing out for those who don't know me so well that this is certainly not me in the photo above. I can get just past my knees).
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Thank you for your continuing support - for your ideas, for your input and your inspiration and feedback. I love getting your replies. And thank you for sending new readers my way.
Those of you who signed up last time to receive their free 5 email programme (Dream / Believe / or Act) will get their first email on Saturday 26th November. Please let me know if you'd like to be on the list.
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